The proposed project will analyze data from Project TALENT to investigate sex and race differences in the occupational attainment process. Project TALENT is a large-scale, long-term study being carried out at the American Institutes for Research. Original TALENT data were collected in 1960 from a nationally representative sample of 375,000 students in Grades 9-12. These participants have been resurveyed 1, 5, and 11 years after high school graduation in an effort to follow the progress of their personal and professional lives. Two complementary studies will be conducted using TALENT data. The first study will compare and contract empirical path models of the career attainment process for black males, white males, black females, and white females. The path models, adapted from the work of Porter (1974), will consist of the following variables, presented in hypothesized causal sequence: Father's/Mother's Occupation, Creativity, Intelligence, Significant Others' Influence, Conformity, Ambition, Occupational Aspiration, Occupational Expectation, Grades (all measured while respondents were in high school), Childbearing History, Educational Attainment, and Occupational Attainment (all measured 11 years out of high school). The second study will paint a profile of "occupationally successful" males and females. First, the TALENT 11-year follow-up sample will be divided into occupational attainment quartiles. Then a portrait of what men and women in each quartile looked like in high school, and 1, 5, and 11 years out of high school will be depicted. Special emphasis will be paid to men and women in the top quartile of occupational attainment at age 29 (11 years out of high school). Results from the studies should provide a definitive picture of sex and race differences in the young adult career attainment process.